A WEEKEND AWAY

We headed down to St. George earlier this month so daddy could run a big race, and so that mom could get away and see a show in Vegas. you on the other hand got to hang out with grandma and grandpa for a few days. We left at night after daddy's work. In theory we were leaving right around your bedtime, so it made sense that you would sleep the whole way. Never works out the way you think. You played for an hour, cried for an hour, and slept for an hour. Fortunately the drive back was a breeze. It's like you had done it before and knew what you were getting yourself into. The weather was amazing, and playing outside for hours was needed after a short cold spell at home. It was the first time we had been apart since you were born. Getting away for a night was nice, but even a day longer would have been difficult. nothing could beat seeing your squishy body and round face. You made me feel needed when we reunited because for the remainder of the trip I could not be out of sight without you crying. You even came to the bathroom with me because you seemed really concerned whether I would come back or not.

10 MONTHS

Every night you seem to grow bigger, more mature. I started to pull out summer clothes, and seeing you fit in 18 month pants that I felt like Gage just grew out of absolutely breaks my heart. I'm not ready for you to grow up.

You spit on command, and you laugh about it, you are very skilled.

You like to take objects to your ear and yell "ya" and when I say objects, I mean absolutely anything you can pick up with one hand, it doesn't even even need to resemble a phone, including forks, bottles, and even the occasional hot wheel 

You are still scared to climbed the stairs it normally requires standing a step ahead of you and egging you on while you scream.

We started transitioning you to table foods. You now eat oatmeal for breakfast, some baby meals and puréed fruit and veggies for lunch and you are pretty good at nibbling on anything we are eating for dinner. You are pretty particular when it comes to the baby meals, the pasta texture doesn't seem to bother you, but you will only eat the spaghetti and beef sauce flavor, you literally hit the spoon when it comes near your face if we even dare any other flavor. You still prefer vegetables over fruit. You only take bottles for bedtime.

You sleep from 8pm-8am and take two naps a day. This month has been hard, you prefer to be laid in bed and every day fight harder and harder when I rock you sleep. I'm not ready to give up you falling asleep in my arms.

You started letting go of couches and tables for just a moment at a time and started standing on your own, however, once you realize you are standing, you immediately sit down.

You have become a dream baby to shop with, I wish you could teach Gage a thing or two about sitting still in the cart.

Bathrooms are off limits. You threw three rolls of toilet paper in the toilets in an hour, all in different bathrooms, and we have been forced to keep the bathroom doors shut ever since.

Busy is an understatement. The mess you can create in 30 seconds is beyond me. We have already started singing the clean up song. You are not catching on like I had hoped.

I love being your momma, and I'm so happy on the rare occasion you need me to give you kisses because you smacked your head against yet another inanimate object. You bring so much joy to this family.

EASTER

Easter Day could not have been a more beautiful day. Since we live in an area where Spring does not exist, rather wont one day and summer the next all the way to June, it was a nice surprise that we woke up to sunshine.

Dad had the day off and joined us at church. You and your brother wore matching button up shirts and black dress pants. Yes, I am that mom that makes her children match, and yes you will probably do the same to your children. its a right of passage kind of thing,  you can blame your Nana, after all she made me wear matching outfits til I was 12 and in Young women's. Dad got a good taste of what our typical sacrament meeting is like. These days there is climbing, crying, snacking, coloring, and not a lot of listening. But hey, we made it there right?!

After church we headed to Grandma Roberts. Believe it or not, the Easter Bunny read our minds and left goodies at the front door for you! You seemed most interested in the card and not so interested in the candy, books, and toys that sweet bunny brought. 

We were really lucky to be joined by your aunt Steffy, Aunt Mana, Uncle David, Cousin Seth, Roomate of cousin Jet, and of course Grandma Roberts. They all watched while you and your brother scavenged the front yard for eggs. By scavenged, I obviously mean that you sat there and we're given an egg or two to drool on and take in and out of your basket. You thought it was awesome.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon making a feast in which you slept entirely through. It was delicious, it's too bad you missed out.

Later, we watched a movie that you got in your basket, while simultaneously destroying grandma's upstairs with fake green grass.

We all stayed up far too late, ate way too much candy, and thoroughly enjoyed the good company. It was a perfect Easter.

PACIFIER PROBLEMS

Up until a month ago I was doing pretty good at keeping your pacifiers hidden during the day. Up until a month ago, you only needed a pacifier to go to sleep. Up until a month ago, I thought weening you off a pacifier at 1 year was going to be cake.

And then you found my stash.

You now want a pacifier at all times, mostly to chew on the side of your mouth. You have even learned to laugh, cry, cough, and even sneeze keeping that bad boy in. You are so advanced.

I think I have it in for myself when it comes to weening time!

9 MONTHS

You met with Dr. Schmidt again. For the first time since birth you were less than the 80th-90th percentile. You are 20lbs 4oz and 28.5 inches long, the 50th percentile. Makes sense why you haven't outgrown your clothes for a couple months.

You prefer vegetables over fruit. It makes me smile. We also have you eating lots of table foods. Nearly everything we eat, you munch away at too. However, you have not yet grasp the concept that you are only supposed to eat the food on your plate. I catch you stealing from your brother, sometimes it makes him cry.

You are busy. Very busy. And fast. In the time it takes to run to my bathroom to grab a hair tie, you will have pulled every single pot and pan out of my cupboard. Lots of moms ask me why I don't just put lock on my cupboards  First, I hate child locks. Second, I like to think I can just teach you not to get into too much trouble, after all I don't leave anything that could harm you in cupboards you can reach. Last, I think it pretty cute when I find you sitting in my pans.

You only whine for mom. Everyone else is pretty convinced you are as happy as it gets. When you dont get what you want you yell.

You are still sleeping 7:30pm-8am. Its pretty awesome. You wont let dad rock you to sleep anymore, you prefer when he just rests your head on your pillow. I like to think you know all the rocking is momma's favorite time of day and you save it for me.

You don't just crawl, you sprint. And you pull yourself up on everything, and walk along anything, including other children.

You love playing in the toilet.

You and Gage have become best friends. You like it when he takes your hands and drags you from room to room or when he lays on top of you and says "wrestle." I catch you two holding hands int he car. You are great at giving Gage a sympathy laugh when he tries to tickle you.

You jump when you get excited. Every morning I find you standing in your crib yelling and the moment I open the door you throw your body into the side of the crib ad reach. When Your aunties took you out for frozen yogurt you jumped in between every single bite eager for the next.

Your hair is getting blonder and blonder, and your eyes bluer and bluer.

You got your first diaper rash this month. Probably because you have become a real pooping machine. You have pooped in the middle of the night all week long. And every other hour during the day. I am hoping you grow out of this.

As long as Gage is not around to sit on you, you are a total momma's boy. I love it.

HEIGHTS

caught you climbing up the stairs today. You were crying because after making it up four stair you weren't quite sure how to get back down. Turns out you are afraid of heights and loud noises.

8 MONTHS

We've been doing a lot of hibernating this month. Its cold most days, and mom's car only works half the time. But don't get me wrong, this has in no way slowed you down. You are mobile. You are climbing, crawling, opening drawers, playing in toilets, getting into my crafts, and escaping everything. You can now get out of the bumbo, the bath tub, and you seem to think if you try hard enough you can escape your crib, fortunately you can't. It's been wild.

You love the water. You have gotten to that age, like every baby does, where anything mom is drinking is worth dunking your hand in. We aim the shower head at you face, and you just laugh. You think splash wars with your brother in the tub are awesome. Mom doesn't.

You hate, I mean screaming tantrum hate, being on your back. We have always known this about you, you prefer tummy time, but these days you are strong and fight back. It takes two to change your diaper, one to pin down your arms to keep you from rolling away, and one to quickly tackle the diaper while you twist your body back and forth screaming.

Your favorite toy by far is a Mater toothbrush. It's funny, Gage went through this phase too. You boys love to watch me get ready and toothbrushes are so appealing. I always keep one in my diaper bag for emergencies. You seem happiest while you are down in your room. You can really get around and climb on everything in there without help. It's great for mom, because I get lots of reading in while you and Gage independently play. The only problems that occur are when Gage knocks you over. You hate that, so you scream. Gage goes to time out, so he screams. There are days that go by that mom wishes she had ear plugs because there is a lot of screaming.

You are eating me out of house and home! Our routine in the morning normally involves me preparing breakfast for you and Gage. I then feed you while taking moments to encourage Gage to eat. Those "moments" are too long. You cry between bites because I can't feed you fast enough. Once you two finish eating i take my time preparing myself breakfast. problem is, when anyone else is eating food, you think you should too. it doesn't matter where i hide, you come crawling over, stand up holding my leg, and cry until i give you a bite. You LOVE greek yogurt. But you have also been known to steal anything you can get your hands on. I even caught you putting away chicken nuggets when Gage decided he didn't want them. You don't have teeth yet, so you just gummed through three nuggets and were so happy. To save some extra money I started making you baby food for m scratch.

You are an awesome sleeper. After struggling for the past few months to get you to sleep through the night, we decided to stop swaddling you, cold turkey. I thought for sure this would be a process. That first night you slept 13 hours. Turns out you sleep really well on your belly. Should have caught on to that earlier. Swaddling made it hard to flip over and get comfy. After we bathe, read stories, and say prayers, we rock you for a minute and put you in your crib. Most nits you and gage talk for a minute or two and then it's silent until about 8am when I hear both of playing in your beds waiting o mom to come get you. I feel pretty spoiled.

Your infatuation my phone is getting out of hand. Maybe it's the fact that its forbidden territory for kids, and that makes it more appealing? I have never seen you crawl faster than when I leave my phone in a place you can see it, you come charging just to put it in your mouth to get a taste. Or is it that you LOVE to FaceTime dad? You think his face is pretty funny even if he isn't saying anything.

You have developed stranger danger. You don't really prefer one parent over the other, you just need one of us to bury your face into when anyone gets too close. You still hate loud noises and cry when I vacuum.

You got your first haircut! Ok, I have been trimming the long strands on the top of your head for some time now, but we used real clippers to trim up around your ears since it was getting pretty straggly. You hated every second of it, until I gave you a toothbrush and turned on the water in the sink, then you could care less that I was trimming away. You look so grown up now!

This month more than any other month, I have just wanted to bottle you up. Getting older certainly comes with its difficulties, but you are the sweetest guy and you make me feel so loved. I love that you tug on my pants, and that you love to be held. I sometimes rock you to sleep and hold you in my arms for way too long before putting you in your bed just so I can stroke your chubby cheeks and kiss your soft forehead and breathe you all in. I love you baby boy.